


no spoonful of sugar can make this sweet

by ohmygodwhy



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Pre-Series, help them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-26
Updated: 2015-10-26
Packaged: 2018-04-28 05:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5079757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmygodwhy/pseuds/ohmygodwhy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Somehow, in a way, he thinks it would be easier if his uncle was not with him."</p>
            </blockquote>





	no spoonful of sugar can make this sweet

**Author's Note:**

> their relationship is so important to me tho

 

Somehow, in a way, he thinks it would be easier if his uncle was not with him.

Those first few months, the first year, Zuko understood on some level why he stayed (feeling guilty, probably, for letting him in even though it was Zuko's own fault) and why he helped him change his bandages and walk and climb his way to the first air temple (that didn't make it any less humiliating to trip over his own feet, to not be able to do anything, to shatter the mirror the first time he saw his scar and have his uncle there to pick up the pieces of everything and every time he cried or locked the door or refused to take the damn bandages off, he was _right there-_  it was life-saving, and it was horrible.)

What he doesn't understand is why his uncle is still here, why he's still sailing along with him when all they've really accomplished over the last two years is wandering around the world on whims and legends and getting frustrating, maddeningly nowhere.

And so many times, Uncle will give him that  _look,_ that  _sigh_ , the one that means he's  _disappointed_ , that Zuko's messed up again, and Uncle will never say it out loud, never tell him, but he  _knows,_  he knows he's sad and disappointed because it's written all over his face whenever Zuko mentions the Avatar (the one he's supposed to catch, it's their goal, been their goal since the beginning so he doesn't understand why he _looks_ at him like that when it's his only option, his only way home—Uncle can go home whenever he wants to, so if he doesn't want to be here so badly why doesn't he just go) or says something wrong or gets angry and that's almost all the time, apparently, because nothing he ever says is right and nothing he ever does is right and Uncle never stops him, just lets him go and go and ruin everything for himself and if he knows so damn much then why doesn't he stop him?

(But he does stop him, sometimes, with a  _you need to eat,_  or a _take time to relax_ , or  _sit down and play a game of Pai Sho, have a cup of tea, enjoy the scenery, a man needs his rest_  (and if he hears that phrase one more time he's going to set something on fire) and a thousand other things that either waste his time or are very necessary— he hates those the most, because somehow it means he's messed up again, that he can't take care of himself, that he's a child who needs his uncle's support all the time and he's not, he can take care of himself and his ship and what he's been assigned to do, and all Uncle does is drill him through his basics no matter how many times he does them right and  _look_  at him and sigh.)

(And Zuko goes and goes and goes and breaks himself down in the process.)

 

 


End file.
